The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Welfare system
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02/10/2012
Labour admits benefit cuts are needed
A Labour Party spokesperson has outlined the need to 'reinvent social security for modern times', and said the party intends to make savings in the benefits budget if it returns to power in 2015.
Liam Byrne, the shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, made his remarks to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Category: News stories -
24/09/2012
Welfare states ‘reduce inequality growth’
Welfare states have reduced the recent growth in income inequality by around two-thirds through benefit systems and social transfers, according to new study. In contrast, tax systems over the period examined actually contributed to greater inequality.
The paper investigates income distribution and redistribution attributed to social transfers and taxes across 20 developed countries from around 1985 to the mid-2000s, based on household income data from the Luxembourg Income Study. It differs from earlier studies in that the total population is taken into consideration, instead of just those of working age.
Category: Reports -
20/09/2012
How welfare affects the ‘inheritance’ of poverty
Intergenerational factors have the biggest influence on income poverty in 'liberal' and southern European welfare regimes, according to a study funded by the European Commission.
The study analysed the relationship between poverty and social exclusion (on the one hand) and parental characteristics and childhood economic circumstances (on the other), using data from the EU-SILC 2005. It compared findings from one-dimensional and multi-dimensional approaches to poverty and social exclusion, in order to assess how far different welfare regimes affect the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.
Category: Reports -
17/09/2012
Public attitudes to benefits are hardening
Public support for government spending on social security benefits has declined markedly over the last decade, according to the annual British Social Attitudes Survey report. People are also more sceptical about whether benefit recipients deserve the help they get.
The British Social Attitudes Survey has been conducted each year since 1983. The 2011 survey involved a representative, random sample of over 3,000 adults.
Category: Reports -
12/09/2012
Third Class Rating for Welfare Reforms: Mike Tomlinson responds to the Welfare Reform Bill
On 27 February 2012, Owen Patterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland debated the Welfare Reform Bill at Queen’s University, Belfast. Mike Tomlinson, Head of the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work was the respondent and in his response he argues that the reform delivers £18 billion in cuts across the UK (£600m in Northern Ireland) while aligning the benefits and tax credit systems to a more unpredictable and flexible labour market. But it fails at perhaps the biggest challenge of all – rebalancing the rewards for work from the richest to the low paid.
Category: -
22/08/2012
Living Standards in the UK
This conceptual note examines ways to operationalise and analyse living standards in the UK for the whole population, not just the poor, using PSE: UK survey data. It asks how the term ‘living standards’ should be defined, which components and aspects should be covered, and how this relates to concepts of ‘welfare’, subjective and objective.
It suggests that a definition of living standards should include ‘what people have, what they do and where they live’, and that they are determined ‘not only by choices and personal preferences but also by the degree of command they have over resources which restrict or do not restrict them in having or doing or participating in things they have reason to value including not only items and activities seen as essential but also those seen as desirable.’
Category: Conceptual notes -
22/08/2012
Welfare services ‘less effective’ than cash benefits in reducing inequality and poverty
Welfare services help to reduce inequality and poverty in European countries, according to a new study. But they are not as effective as cash benefits.
Researchers examined the impact of welfare services, such as education and healthcare, on inequality and poverty in 21 EU countries, by reference to a hypothetical situation in which no publicly provided services existed.
Category: Reports -
26/06/2012
‘Little evidence’ for culture of dependency
There is little evidence to support the idea of a growing ‘culture of dependency’, according to a study of the causes of poverty. The evidence instead highlights the important role for policy – especially on family-related benefits, work incentives and job creation.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation study looks at what causes poverty, and tries to separate out the roles of factors such as family, employment, geography, education and culture.
Category: Reports -
25/06/2012
Cameron calls benefits system ‘unaffordable’
The benefits system is unaffordable, traps people in poverty and encourages irresponsibility, according to the Prime Minister. In a speech on welfare he called for a debate about the fundamental purpose of the benefits system, and put forward a wide range of possible reforms.
David Cameron was speaking in his capacity as leader of the Conservative Party, rather than on behalf of the government. He said the government has made a ‘good start’ on reform but he signalled the need for further radical measures at some stage in the future, probably after the next election. Key possibilities for reform include:
Category: News stories -
09/05/2012
Iain Duncan Smith calls for ‘cultural change’ to cut welfare bill
Britain needs a ‘cultural change’ if it is going to cut spending on benefits, according to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Simply ‘cheese slicing’ the budget will not be enough, and he accused previous governments of simply ‘patching up’ a fundamentally broken system.
Iain Duncan Smith made the comments in a speech to a right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange, in London. He said he wants to see ‘internal and external cultural change’ in the coming years, not just ‘political and technocratic’ welfare reform. He continued:
‘By this I mean cultural change both within society, and within government itself. We are faced with a fundamental challenge. Millions of people stuck on out of work benefits. Millions not saving nearly enough for their retirement. And government addicted to spending levels as a measurement of success, rather than life change as a measurement of success.’
Category: News stories
